Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 12X with Dxr3 Card
Written: Sep 08 '00 (Updated Sep 08 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Quality!
Cons: Tray is slow to open.
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Creative Labs PC-DVD ROM kit |
1. What You Get
2. Installation
3. The 12X DVD Rom
4. The Dxr3 Decoder Card
5. System Requirements
6. Pros
7. Cons
8. Over All
*** 1. What You Get ***
1.DVD Drive (12x DVD & 40x CD ROM)
2.Dxr3 Decoder Card (For your empty PCI slot.)
3.Manual-Very detailed, in English and Spanish.
4.VGA Loop-back cable.
5.S-Video to Composite Cable.
6.Dual Connector Audio Cable.
7.CD Audio Cable.
8.IDE Cable.
9.1-floppy disk. (DVD ROM Driver)
10.1-CD (Dxr3 driver and setup.)
*** 2. Installation ***
Installation is rather easy, the best way is to take out your old CD ROM drive and put the new DVD drive in its place. If you do this you can use the same IDE connection and power connection that the CD ROM had. You will need a Philips screwdriver to put the Dxr3 card in the PCI slot, press firmly and make sure it is all the way in the slot. There are plenty of drawings in the manual to help you make the audio and video connections. (When finished your Monitor will plug in the back of the Dxr3 card. The VGA loop-back cable will connect on the outside your VGA card and the Dxr3 card.) Next run the software and you're ready to go.
*** 3. The 12X DVD Rom ***
Play DVDs and CDs in the same player.
************DVD*********CD
Speed---------12X-------------40X
Access Time-105-130 msec-90-110 msec
Capacity-------17 GB---------748 MB
Transfer Rate-16.2 MB/sec.-6000 KB/sec
Formats Supported
DVD - DVD, DVD-Video and DVD-ROM
CD - CD, CD-Audio, CD-1, CDR, CDRW, Video-CD, CD-ROM, CD-I Ready, CD-I Bridge, CD-ROM/XA, Photo-CD and Enhanced-Music-CD.
*** 4. The Dxr3 Decoder Card ***
Drx stands for Dynamic X-tended Resolution, this is for full screen, high definition video. Video playback is at 30 frames per second, (NTSC standard) DVD 1.0, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.
Resolution for your monitor and video card is supported up to 1600x1200.
Audio playback is great! This card is designed to go with a Sound Blaster Live sound card and the Cambridge DTT2500 Digital speakers system for a "TRUE 5.1" (AC-3) sound. (I know it sounds great because I have the entire system.) You can also hook to another 5.1 or DTS system.
Hookups in the back of the card are, VGA-in, VGA-out, High-Density-Connector, (S-Video or Composite output.) and JST-audio output connector. (JST-is the connection to the Cambridge DTT2500 system for "TRUE 5.1" sound.)
*** 5. System Requirements ***
1.Pentium II-400 MHz or compatible processor. (I believe an AMD K2-6 400MHz or higher would be fine.)
2.32 Megabytes of RAM.
3.10 Megabytes free on your hard drive.
4.SVGA graphics card. (To see full screen DVD Video, it is recommended to have at least 16 megabytes on your card.)
5.Empty PCI slot.
6.Enhanced IDE connector. (Just put it on the same cable that your CD ROM is on.)
7.Empty Drive Bay for the DVD drive.(You can just replace your old CD drive.)
8.Sound Blaster or compatible brand. (Sound Blaster Live is recommended.)
9.Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or NT-4.0
*** 6. Pros ***
Best quality picture and sound I have seen. Now I can watch my DVD movies right on my computer screen. Software is getting bigger and bigger all the time and it takes several CDs to load up some programs. One DVD recorded on both sides can store the equivalent of over 25 CDs.
Easy installation and a good manual that comes with it.
*** 7. Cons ***
1.Cost is a factor a lot of people look at. Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 12X with Dxr3 Card retails for $249, I got mine at Circuit City on sale for $199 after two $25 rebates.
2.Dxr3 Driver - It wouldn't load automatically from the CD, so I installed it manually through Windows and works fine.
3.Tray is a little slow to open, you have a couple seconds of a pause before it opens. (This only happens when a DVD or CD is in it, I guess it takes that long to slow it down.)
*** 8. Over All ***
If you are into 5.1 sound and DVD quality full screen video, then I highly recommend this drive and card. Most DVD ROMs do not have a card, so they must run on software provided by the video card manufacture. I have been told this slows down your video since your DVD has to run off the video card. I can tell you that with the Dxr3 card I have noticed no slowdown or quality on my video.
I have an excellent picture and excellent sound to go with it. DVD is the future for storage on the PC, 17 gigabytes is a mountain of storage when compared to a CD of 650 megabytes.
Recommended:
Yes
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surferdude7
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